Gain and Loss
by Mastermindhunter
Summary: Full summary inside. Prelude of "Overdone Meal" by the author "From Darkness and Light". Young toucan Kiki has all she ever wanted, but when strange creatures enter the Amazon things don't go as planned. PoM charecters show up in later chapters.
1. A new family

**Hello, readers. This is for a charecter I designed myself, for the story, "Overdone meal" by the author "From Darkness and Light" She used my charecter in her story, involving the penguins and friends to enter an underground animal sanctuary. On their arrival, they meet many different animals, one being a young girl toucan named Kiki. This is the story of how she got to the city thyat rests on the outskirts of New York, and it all begins on the Amazon riverside, of the Amazon rainforest, in Manaus, Brazil.**

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Gain and Loss chapter 1

by

Mastermindhunter

"Come on Kikiana, my love. Just one more push!" I was screeching at the top of my lungs. Sweat was pouring off my face, and my body was in shock. What a painful chore this was. I thought that it couldn't get any worse than this. I looked outside at the other toucans of the group. Thirty pairs of anticipating eyes were focused on me, including my mate, Runako. He was so excited, and helping me every step of the way. My mother, who was also queen of our flock, Makeeda was watching me with a warm calm face. She knew that if anybody could do this, it was me. I braced my wings against the walls of the hollow hole in the tree. I could hardly take it anymore. I don't know why Runako said it, but it was definitely NOT just one more push. I was huffing trying to push these final eggs out. Finally in one final scream, I felt the last two eggs rest in the bottom of the tree. I slumpt against the side of the hole, and smiled at Runako. The thirty pairs of eyes were slowly starting to smile, when they figured out that I was done. Runako kissed me gently, and nuzzled his head against mine, knowing I had done an acceptional job laying our first ever clutch of eggs. I was so exhausted, I could barely stand. Runako smiled and helped me stand up. He grabbed my wing in his, and pulled me to my natural blue feet. I wobbled a bit, but regained my stance. When I made it over to the edge of the hole, I got on the rim of the hollowed out tree trunk so I could take a look at my eggs. I was surprised at how many there were. Five eggs! Most toucans layed an average of three. The usual number was from two to four, but five? Well the number for me didn't matter that much. The more eggs I had, the better, I thought.

I smiled down at them, and ran my wing over them. They were simply the most beautiful things I had ever laid my eyes on. I hugged Runako close, and smiled. It was the first time I ever laid an egg before, and was proud. I smiled over at my mother, and nodded. My mother was by tradition the first one to see all eggs. As queen, it was her job to see all laid eggs before anyone else, granted the parents of course. I waved over for her, and she hopped from her tall tree branch down to my branch. She hopped over to the hole, and we moved aside, so she could give her royal blessing. She turned to me, and laid a wing on my shoulder and smiled. "Well done my princess." She hugged me in a motherly hug, and she gave Runako a mother in law hug. She hopped up to the hole, and looked inside.

My eggs layed there warm, and young. She looked at each one carefully. She picked each one up, and held them up to her closely. When she had inspected, and blessed them all. She waved her wing slowly over the the hollowed out hole in the tree, blessing our nest site, for a bountifull and healthy family. She smiled at me, and I knew the next step to the ceremony. She held out her wings. I laid my wing in hers, and Runako laid his wing in her other wing. She led me over to the branch that was positioned slightly over the toucans, so they could have a clear view of me, Runako, and her. She knew that I was very weak after me laying my first ever clutch of eggs, and not to mention their size. She was very carefull with me, making sure I didn't geet hurt. She nodded to both of us, and we nodded back.

"My people" My mother boomed in her royalty voice. "My daughter, Princess Kikiana has layed her first batch of five eggs." She declared. She held our wings above her head, and as it was done for all parent toucans, the flock cheered for us. They smiled, and jumped excitedly on the branches for us. The cheer was thunder in the canopies. I could swear the the whole rainforest could hear us.

The toucans bowed their heads in unison, and it was the greatest honor I ever felt. My mother brought our wings together to bless us as a couple. Our wings were brought together, and she said the lines that she had said many times to many toucans. " May your future for these babies be a bountiful one full of teamwork, love, compassion, and understanding. I pray for a prosperous life for you, and your eggs. May you all eccept this blessing." We nodded, and kissed as done by the toucans before us.

The ceremony had been over for about an hour, but we were still being watched by the entire flock. I was sitting on my eggs to keep them warm. I knew I was dirty hungry, and tired, but I wanted to keep my babies safe. Runako was watching me carefully as well. "You do understand, darling that we are supposed to work as a team to watch our babies. We are supposed to take turns. You haven't eaten in a while, my love. Go get some fruits. I will watch the eggs." I looked at him, a bit nervously. They were after all a whole nest of five eggs, but then again, he was bigger than I was, so he could keep them under him safer.

My mother flew over to our hole, and stared at me with a mother's look. I looked at her sneering in a playful manner. Runako smiled at my mother. "Oh thank heavens your highness. Could you tell Kikiana to go get some food? She isn't going to eat, and she hasn't had food in I don't know how long." My mother looked at me with her eyebrows raised. I blushed a bit, but didn't want to let my eggs out of my sight.

"Is that so?" She stared at me annoyed. I looked away stubbornly.

"Yes." Runako said with playfull smile in my direction.

My mother straightened her back, in order to look taller than me, which she did to assert her authority. "As queen of this flock, and your mother, I command you calm down, and let Runako have his turn to incubate the eggs." I huffed loudly, and carefully got up. I manuevered over the eggs, and Runako easily slipped in, and layed himself down on them perfectly. I smiled, but didn't want to fly away to leave him there.

I was very worrysome for my eggs. I suppose this is how mother felt when she had me and my brothers. Finally Runako waved his wings. "Go, Kiki. Go. It's my turn." I rolled my eyes, and flew off after my mother.

We went above the tree tops, and canopies, so that we could head to the river. It was late spring, so I knew that it wouldn't be too difficult to find a fruit tree along the river during wet season. We found an acerola tree. The fruit it held was delicious. I grabbed it with my beak and swallowed the juice filled fruit. my mother and I loved to forage for fruit together as mother and child, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do that so much now that I had a batch, and a mate. She made her way over to a nearby guava tree. The tree provided excellent protection from prey. We both perched upon the top. She landed right beside me.

"Now doesn't this seem better?" She smiled in a carefree tone.

I felt a bit better, but not carefree. All my thoughts were on my family. "Not really, but I can always pretend with you, mom." I snickered.

She sighed, and shook her head. "You know Kikiana, just because you worry about these problems, doesn't solve them. You must have faith in Runako. He will not hurt your eggs." I sighed and nodded. She smiled, and hugged me close. "I am so proud of you. Having a clutch of of your very own. It feels like you are just a year old." I smiled at her as she hugged me closely, and raised an eyebrow.

"But I am a year old, mother." I giggled.

"And such a wonderous year it has been so far. My first egg I ever laid in my life, having eggs of her very own. She smiled, and her face turned to one of surprise. "Oh that remids me. I want to talk to you about the flock." That was when I knew she had stopped her mother instincts, and kicked into her queen instincts. "As you well know, I will not be around forever. I will need to have an heir to the flock's throne." I seriously did not like the direction this discussion was going. "Being my only daugher as well as my first ever layed egg, I feel that the best choice would be you to carry on my work as queen."

"Me? but I'm just a simple toucan. I cannot carry on the flock as a queen!" I was totally stunned at the thought of being queen. I knew there was possibility I could be it, but I never imagined it would happen. "Can't you get one of the boys to take over?"

She shot me a glance. "Now Kikiana, you know you were my first egg ever to be born into my first ever clutch, as was I in my mothers first, and her in her mother's first. You come from a long line of first eggs. Now I know that the decisions seem demanding, and the pressures are frustrating, but I want you to know that it isn't so awfull. You and I both know that your father was by my side the whole way through, and I did a good job. Don't you think?"

"But that's just it, mother. You are the queen of queens. I don't think I'll ever fill your shoes."

She laughed, and looked at me smiling warmly. "Well, I don't recall you acting so scared when you found out you were pregnant. It's just like taking care of children. You learn while you work." She said confidentally. "Trust me. You will do wonders for our flock, and in your nest the heir to your throne is being cared for by the future king, and they will carry on your work as will their children." I shrugged.

"But what if I fail?" I said worrisome. "What if the flock falls apart?"

She spread her wings wide. "Trust me. It won't. Now let's head back to the flock. I'm sure you will be happy to be in your tree for some well deserved rest."


	2. The two skinned humans

Gain and Loss chapter 2

by

Mastermindhunter

I laid there on my eggs the next day. They were so comfy underneath me. I almost fell asleep in mid day. It felt good to be with my babies. It certainly helped me get distracted from the troublesome issue that I had tried to avoid all day the day before. My mother was still on me, with the whole heir to the throne responsibilty. She kept assuring me that since I was the first egg she ever laid in her life, that I was destined to take the throne. It was tradition. How could I break a tradition that has been held strong over a thousand years? The thought of that only made me feel more of a dissappointment in my mother's eyes. I knew that she loved me, and I also knew that she didn't take no for an answer.

My brothers who were princes were acting very rude, ridiculing me of my duties. "Well look brother. There is the royalness little miss princess Kiki." I loved when they called me Kiki. They were the only ones who called me Kiki. I rolled my eyes, and smiled in their direction.

Runako didn't like their spunky banter. He tried chasing them off. "Leave my wife alone. She's suffered enough yesterday. She is very tired, and needs her strength both phsically and emotionally!"

I told him they could stay. They were just my little brothers, and having a bit of sibling teasing. "Don't worry Runako. They are fine. They are just coming to talk to me about casual topics." I smiled. He looked at them, and nodding, saying his apoligies. They accepted it, and hopped up the branch that was leading into my hole. They stayed out of the hole, since it was awfully crowded, and only two toucans could fit at a time.

My younger brother spoke first. "You know mother wants you to take charge of the flock, once she passes on." I took a deep breath, and nodded. Runako smiled at me, and laid his wing on my head. I knew my husband would be thrilled to be king, though I was not. He got closer, and spoke to me. "So are you going to do it?"

I shrugged. I didn't know. As much gain, and privilige as I could get, I was still pretty skeptical. There were pros and cons to being queen of the flock. It would help the flock to have a leader, but what if I made the wrong decisions? I would be well known throughout the flock, but wouldn't being princess already have me known already? I would have alot of respect, but if a predator came I would be first to be eaten. I turned towards my two brothers, and said the honest truth. "I really can't decide right now."

My older brother got close as my younger brother did before. "Well you better think of your decision quickly. Mother's spreading word that you are going to be the new queen. She's telling people that you accepted the crown." My eyes got wide. I suppose that she figured I would accept it. "We just wanted to tell you that. We know mother well enough to know that you didn't agree to it. She tends to assure herself. We are headed to the riverfront to get a few fish before the pirahna do. Would you like to tag along?" I shook my head. Since I had children, I figured I should be playing it safe, and not try to get involved in river affairs. Pirahna didn't mind if you were commoner, or royalty. To them a bird was a peice of flying meat.

"No, head on without me. I think I'll stay here, though I will be headed out to the village, to see what the humans are up to." I assured them. If there was ever a safe haven, it was the humans. The village took favor in us toucans, and respected our kind, though I was the only one who went to them. Ever since I was little I went to see the humans. They fascinated me for the longest time, and in time they had gotten use to me, and observed me as well. The flock had alerted me as the observer of the humans. I would report their activities, and check for signs of hostility toward our kind. So far they had not harmed us stating personally to each other, that we were "deteriorating", and becoming "endangered." I hadn't exactly known what that meant, but knew that if it was keeping us and the village as friendly neighbors, than "endangered" must have meant something good to our kind.

My brothers nodded, and flew off to their roosts. They shouted back before they left. "You might want to think about the royal princess necklace. You'll be needing it, when you accept mother's proposal for royalty." Yes I knew that too well. I looked up at a higher perch in the hole, and stuck my wing up there feeling around for my royal family heirloom. I felt it, and tightened my grip around it. A simple necklace weaved from thin vine. In the middle an exsquisite purple gemstone. The heiress to the throne was to wear it until the queen passed on, and the necklace would be replaced with the crown. It was a larger purple gemstone in the middle of many more woven vines in the form of a crown. We wore our royal family jewels only during important meetings. The queen, and princesses wore purple gemstones, while the king and princes wore red. We used our jewels as social order of royalty.

After an hour, I got up, and let Runako gaurd the babies. I had left to the river to meet the Amazonians. I could see the huts, a few feet away. In no time I made my way over to them. They were so amazing to me. They had needles in their lips, and paints on their faces. I loved their traditions. A few women were grinding grains, as a few men were headed along the river to fish the waters. I was looking for the human, who I had grown up to trust. He was in a hut in the middle. I looked in and he was next to his woman. I saw them eating together. I chirped, and the human boy I had learned was named as Caddo, looked at me, and smiled. he walked over to me, and pet me carefully. I looked over at the opening, and a young girl was staring at me, and laughed. I smiled at her, and she ran over to me petting me carefully.

"I was wondering what happened to you. I bet you were busy laying eggs." I smiled. Caddo knew us so well. "Well I suppose you would like a fruit." He said smirking. He grabbed a mango toward me, and I twisted my head to the side grabbing it with my beak.

"I don't understand Caddo" The little girl said with confusion. "Why do we treat them with fruit? Why do we not hunt them?" Caddo smiled at the unknowing girl.

"You must understand, Nika. It is great to be human, but it is good to be toucan as well. The toucans of her species are rapidly deteriorating and are becoming endangered." I didn't know for sure, but was starting to think that "endangered" meant special. "We must be carefull with her kind, and treat their species with utmost respect." He said holding his arm out for me to perch on. I smiled, and jumped on his arm. He pet me, and stroked my beak. A loud horn was heard outside of the hut. I knew what it meant. It meant that somebody had entered the village grounds. Humans. Humans that weren't of the village. I flew away, and hid in the closest tree. I didn't let the strangers see me, but didn't want to miss out. I ducked behind a leaf, but let my eyes peek over the rim. It was most likely just another tribe.

When the village gathered in the center, I saw the human visitors. They were unlike anything I had ever seen. My beak hung open in surprise. I knew this was a species of human I had never seen before in my life. These humans were almost undescribable. These peculiar humans had not one, but two coats of skin. One was of different colors on each human. This skin was one that could be easily peeled off like snake skin, but it was furry looking like a jaguars fur. Their second skin was all the more interesting. It was the same as the tribal people's skin, but the color was all wrong. Their skin was shining like the sun. They were like furless monkeys. I could best describe their skin color as white like the shell of eggs. A few of the of the two skinned humans hair was of many weird colors. Some had hair red like blood, others had hair of yellow, like the banana snake.

I was astounded by these creatures. I knew it wise to turn and run back to the village, but these strange people caught my curiosity. I just couldn't turn away.

One of the two skinned approached the tribe. He had red fur on his head, and even had some on his face like the jaguar. Another two skinned human came along side him. He had dark skin and normal dark hair like the villagers, but still had an extra skin. The red furred human smiled, and shook hands with Caddo. He said something that sounded like words, but not words that I could understand. He nodded toward the dark haired two skinned human, and the dark haired one spoke in words that were understandable. He directed his words towards Caddo.

"The white man says, "Hello. I am from a land a far way away. I have come to the Amazon rainforest to study the forest." He said. I can only imagine he was a translator for this weird language.

Caddo spoke next. "Why then does he have so many people, and they bear weapons! I don't feel safe with their weapons in our village." He said. "Can you tell him that if he wishes to stay in our village, that he must get rid of them? He must surrendur his weapons, if he is to stay in our world." Caddo said defensively.

The translator spoke in the weird language to the red haired human. The red haired human gave his shiny sticks to one of the people behind him. The one who was given the sticks walked out of sight, and the red furred newcomer started speaking again.

"He says that he will give up his weapons, and that he merely wanted them as to face troubles they might encounter. He wishes to map out the jungle, and to find out where the tallest of the trees grow." Caddo nodded to this, and understood that he had come here just to learn.

"Tell the red haired man that the tallest of trees grow to the east, and that he must promise not to harm the animals, or the jungle. You may also tell him that if he offers my village his foreign clothes, then he will be unwelcomed." Was that what these second skins were called? Clothes? The translator nodded to this proposal. He spoke to the red furred man, and he nodded. All I could muster up was a simple "WOW"! I had no clue of what to make of it, so I headed straight to the flock to alert my mother. 


	3. Flock meeting

Gain and Loss chapter 3

by

Mastermindhunter

The toucans were all gathered for a flock meeting. All thirty three toucans of the flock were grouped together. We needed to send this news to all the toucans. My mother, two brothers, and I wore our royal jewels, pointing out that this was a flock meeting of important matters. We had gathered near my nest, in order to have Runako join us as well. As the princesses husband he was obliged to be part of the royal council, and that meant being involved in duscussing the matters at hand. The group was ecstatic. A few of them were jumping from one branch to the next. Others were questioning what the meeting could be about.

I had informed my mother of the new human visitors. She said that since I knew most about them, that I would be taking an important role in the discussion of them. She wanted me to speak my opinion of them to our group, so we could decide on a course of action. I knew this was her method of getting me ready for the throne. I figured that if I decided to just face the matters at hand, instead of putting it off, then I wouldn't have to worry about the troubles later when my eggs were hatching. Nothing would seem more pathetic than your mother acting eratic when you first hatch.

I was hiding with the family behind a bush of leaves, to let it be known that we weren't ready yet. The toucans faces were all different. I knew they were frightened, and so very confused. To be perfectly honest, I was confused as well. I looked at my mother. She was on putting her crown, and I was putting on my necklace, which meant this meeting was of the utmost importance. She took a deep breath. I knew this would be troublesome for her. She was so used to making decisions with my father, the king by her side, but ever since the jaguar incident, she has been forced to make these decisions on her own, but never one this big! She walked on out, and met the gaze of all the toucans.

She held the bush aside, and let me through, along with my two other brothers. The younger one Pogo, and then the older one Davi. We all came out with just as much fear in our hearts as the other toucans did. We tried to keep it out of our eyes, but we saw the fear reflect quite clearly in the other's eyes. Mother held her wings above her head, signaling everyone to calm down, and that the meeting had come to order. "My brothers and sisters! I have called this flock meeting to order for we have an important new matter up for discussion." She turned towards her left, and spread her wing in my direction. "My daughter has done her surveilance of the Amazonian tribe, and has found new knowledge that has potential to threaten us." She cast her wing forth, allowing me to step up to the main speaking branch, and explain to the flock. "Tell us my daughter. What did you see?"

Everyone was focused on me, so I told them all that I had known about their kind. "My brothers and siters. I have discovered a new species of human beings." A loud group of gasps was heard over the flock. They had turned towards each other, in awe. "They are not like any human I have ever seen. They are a very strange group of beasts. They wear not one but two coats of skin." My mother was staring at me with a look of sheer terror, since I knew it was of something she could hardly imagine. If she was this surprised just hearing about them, I could barely imagine her reaction to seeing them for herself. "One of these coats is a skin that they can shed like the anaconda, but instead of leaving it, they can put it back on again. This skin is soft and fur like in texture" I saw a group of three baby toucans gasp, and grab on to their mothers legs in fright. "Their second skin is all the more astounding. It is the same as the villagers, but the color is different. Their second skin shines like the sun. It's white like our eggs we lay. Their skin color represents the marmoset, just furless. But their faces have fur on them like jaguars." I saw a young couple hug eachother in fright. Th female hid her face, and the male comforted her whispering that things would be alright. "Their hair is unlike any color that I know of. Some have hair that is red like blood, but others have hair that is yellow like the boa constrictor. They do not speak our language, but one of them translates their language to Bazilian Portuguese." At my final sentance the toucans were at a dull roar of surprise.

"What do we do?" Shouted one of the elderly ones to me. "They seem frightening. Are they at all dangerous?" The flock turned from the curious one to me. I honestly couldn't answer that with certainty.

"Well, I wouldn't be too sure of that. The one that translated stated that they are here to learn about our world." I said clearly to the flock. "They do not speak our language, except the one that has dark skin like the villagers. I know not where they come from, why they wish to study us, or why they come here." I said with certainty. "I witnessed them weiding shiny sticks that are very strange." I remember their odd weapons of shiny material.

One of the young females raised her head to my stating their weaponry. "These shiny sticks sound very hostile. What do they do?"

I shrugged. "I am not sure. The village insisted that they leave their weapons if they decide to venture through the village. They did not demonstrate the effect of these weapons, but whatever it is, I know will be very different to us." I spoke in her direction. " I know they are not permitted in the village, but I am not so sure about the forest, but I had noticed something. They did not attack. They bare no war paints, or battle cries, therefore I predict that they are not here to act hostile toward the villagers. I cannot say the same of our lands."

Runako spoke next, from the hole. "If they are not here to fight the villagers, then I must ask why they bring these weapons. Will they be using them against something else?" He asked. "I mean after all, they had to bring weapons for some reason." he said with seriousness. "It might be for the anteaters, or the tapirs. Who says that we are any safer? There have not been new humans in the jungle for thousands of years"

I nodded. "Yes, Runako. That is true. They must have brought them for a reason. Perhaps they were frightned as we are, and were bringing them for fear of the villagers. I can understand if they are just as frightened as we are. It makes sense to bring protection to a frightening unknown world." I was very protective of this new species of human. I knew that if this species was not accepted that they could dissappear as fast as they arrived.

My mother got next to me. She laid a wing on my shoulder "My daughter has learned much from a mere glimpse of these humans. If she has learned that much, just by mere moment, then I feel that this species has much more information for us to gather."

Pogo and Davi were not very happy with these two skinned humans. "I feel that these humans are here to harm, and attack. I say we relocate the flock as soon as possible." Pogo urged.

Davi agreed with the youngest of us. "Yes they will cause none other than trouble. We must flee before they decide to destroy all of us. We must run before they have chance to find us out."

My mother spoke next. "We should not. There are many reasons to stay. For one, Princess Kikiana has just layed her first batch of eggs. They will die without their care, I assure you that Kikiana does not plan on loosing them over assumptions. Also it will be difficult to leave our nests. We are unaware of any vacant holes nearby." I could tell by her voice that she did not like to disagree with her youngest children. "I understand that they may seem dangerous, but we cannot be for certain. They claim to be here for educational pourposes, but these two skinned humans are strange to our kind." She was ready to make her decision. "I have decided to take my daughter to the scarlet macaws, and alert their people. With luck they will agree to send their kind with Kikiana to the village to observe them."

A slight raise in the flocks voice signaled that they did not want me reasoning with the scarlet macaws on any circumstances. They were known for living very long lives, and failure to get along with our kind.

Pogo and Davi jumped from their prince branch, and settled on my mothers branch, showing opposition towards the queen. "Mother, they will not understand. This is the scarlet macaws we are talking about. They keep to themselves. They are elderly and cruel. They care nothing for the sanctity of our flock, or our people." Davi said with great intolerance.

Pogo spoke next. Despite the flocks surprise, my mother was not surprised when they had opposed the idea. After all we had enough reason to understand the fact that we would all disagree on matters. "It is true mother. The scarlet macaws are elderly and stubborn. If we tell them of the new species of human, they will surely not believe us." Davi urged. "All they care about is their clay licks. As long as they aren't away from their precious clay licks, they will not intervien."

My mother shook her head. "My sons. These are dire times. With such strange occourences, you must lay aside you pridefull values, and learn to accept an era of peace with the elders of the scarlet macaws. As your mother and queen, I advise you to accept my proposal to alert the different animals. It would be best to keep our world informed. Both as a flock as well as a rainforest. Now learn your role as prince, and step away from your mother's branch." She looked at her two sons with an angry glare. They had nodded once, and jumped to their branches. They looked a bit ashamed of themselves. I looked at them and nodded in their directin stating that it was alright. "My brothers and sisters. If they strangers are at all dangerous, then I will hope that they don't intend to stay. If they seem to cause strange occourences in the flock's grounds or venture too close, I will consider relocating, of course with a plan on getting Kikiana's eggs out with safety." I nodded when she turned towards me. "This meeting is adjourned." 


	4. Macaws

Gain and Loss chapter 4

by

Mastermindhunter

I was nervously headed closer, and closer to the southern acre that belonged to the scarlet macaws. I didn't know what they had in store for me. I knew that if I didn't have my royal necklace, that I would be dead. When you made it clear that you were royalty, you got the pleasure of not being in trouble. The flight made me nervous. I was over the river in minutes. I saw an Eagret cooling off. Ahead of her, there was a group of capybara. You could tell the difference between our acre, and their acre. They had less flowers, and many evergreen trees. I could smell along the banks, the fowl salty clay licks. It made it me nauseated. I knew I would stand out like a flower amung dirt, or like a keel billed toucan amung scarlet macaws.

I had felt like the sun was being completely blocked. The rainforest got darker and darker. It was only enough light to see that I wasn't alone. It wasn't long before I spotted a scarlet macaw looking at me through an evergreen branch. I tried ignoring him. The smell of pine invaded my nose, and it smelled really good to me. I knew I wasn't supposed to like it, because that meant I was in macaw territory. A few more macaws appeared from the pines. I was starting to get scared. There were no girls that I saw. They were all males. I knew that there would be no females, since the macaws didn't take turns like we did. Only the girls incubated the eggs, while the boys never cared for theirs. I was glad I could count on my husband unlike the macaws could. I knew the macaws were bigger than I was. They stood a frightening thirty-two inches, while I stood a measley eleven inches. A tried ignoring their looks at me. They looked at me grinning. A young female toucan was not safe in the evergreens of the scarlet macaws, when all the men are out. I noticed that they seemed to be surrounding me. I looked around nervously. I always knew they despised us as a species, but we never went to their lands before. We always met on neutral grouds for discussion. They considered a toucan on their lands a large insult.

I accidentally bumped into a branch, and saw a macaw turn around and look at me devilishly with a glint of mischief in his smile. I slowly backed up with fear, and felt a group of feathers on my back. I quickly twirled around and saw another one. This one was exceptionally large. It was far bigger than any of the others I saw gathering around me. He was definitely the alpha male. I didn't know for sure, but whether he was the leader or not I knew I was in trouble. I could tell by that look in his eye that there was no time to explain our case to the macaws. They didn't care about the humans, and I was more concerned with flying for my life. I had no chance of escape. He smiled and grabbed me by my wings. They were grabbed, and held behind my back. I felt him lift me from the branch I was on. I hung there by my wings, while they were behind my back. I heard the screechy voice of the macaw behind me. They were known for having the most annoying voices you could imagine.

"Well, well, well, boys. Look what we've got here." He said in an awful sceeching voice.

The male macaws all gathered around me, and laughed their blood curdling laughs. They were huge, and frightening. There must have been at least fifteen around me. I saw them descending from taller branches and they all huddled around me to admire their excellent skills of catching an intruder. I was trying to free myself flailing in his grasp. I was angry and frightened. Mostly frightened. I kicked, and kicked in mid air. I hung their like a bat by my wings. He twirled me around, and looked me in the eyes. "Well, look at you. We don't get very many of your kind around here. You're pretty small, even for a toucan. You might be the smallest toucan I've ever seen. Your feet can't even reach the ground." I growled angrily, and attempted once more to attempt an escape. "Oh calm yourself sweetheart. There's no one who can save you now. You are caught by me. I am the famous, Nobli"

A different macaw spoke next. "Nobody escapes Nobli. He is the best killer in these lands. He can kill three parrots a day." Now I was really scared. I looked up at Nobli frightened for my life.

"Put me down. I am the princess of the keel billed toucan flock. I have an important message for your king. Please take me to the flock king. It's important that I speak with him." They all laughed their annoying laughs. The macaw who's name was Nobli tightened his grip.

"Well don't you have a beautiful voice. It matches your height. Most of our women don't have an enchanting voice like that. Our girls are bigger, and have squawky voices, unlike you. Then again you toucans were always known for your beauty, and soft voices." He said tightening his grip on my wings. I was very scared of him. He knew I was no match for him. "As for a king, we have no king. Macaws all fend for themselves. Macaws don't need anybody." He pushed his beak up against mine. "Though it seems that you need some help yourself." He smiled with a psychotic look in his eye. It was official. The scarlet macaws had gone mad. Especially this Nobli one.

I turned away deciding to just go ahead, and let my fear show. I dropped my head low in doom. "So what are you going to do." I whimpered with fear in my heart.

He grinned looking at all the other macaws. They stopped cheering, and they all nodded, as if they already knew what he had in store for me. Seeing their nods of encouragement. He lifted me up to meet his gaze. "I'm going to do what you filthy scum birds deserve." He said laughing meniacally. The birds cheered roars of squawky cheers.

"Excuse me."

I saw a jet black feather tap the shoulder of the huge macaw holding me up by my wings. "Please, let my wife go." I saw him punch the macaw in the beak. The startled macaw dropped me to the ground, and I saw Runako lunge at the startled monster of a bird.

I looked behind them and saw over half of the toucans from the flock. They all held angry faces. I saw our strongest one at a high up branch. He stretched his wing out and yelled "ATTACK!" I knew that I could count on them to save me. There were just as many of us toucans as there were macaws. I got up, and helped holding the huge bird down that held me in his grip. I never imagined it would take two toucans to hold down a macaw. No wonder we ever ventured into their territory.

"How did you know I was in trouble? Who's watching the eggs?" I asked holding the large macaw down.

He slammed the elbow of his wing into his back. "Her majesty is watching them. I know to never turn my back on a macaw." I saw my brothers beating up a macaw that was headed for me. Everyone was fighting a macaw. I was anxious to leave when we heard a loud screeching macaw's voice.

"STOP!"

A large macaw was standing on a short branch that was broken off before pines could form. It was definitely the king of all macaws. He was even larger than the one that was about to kill me. He looked very old, and wise. There were no toucans past the age of twenty five in our flock. He must have been at least forty. My mother was right. They were known for being elderly. All of the toucans stopped defending themselves since all the macaws stopped trying to kill us. They took a look at the macaw that was king, and they all quickly got on their knees, and bowed their heads low. All of us toucans stopped, and stared at the one that had saved me. He looked at us toucans, and then looked with anger at his subjects.

"What goes on here?" He said with a stern voice.

Runako spoke up first. "Well, your heighness. My wife was sent to send an important message to you, about the humans . . . one that might effect the entire forest. She decided to alert your people, and was going to ask for help, but your subjects were about to kill her." He said with no fear in his voice. "It's alright my love." He said holding his wings out. I had almost forgot how scared I was, and delve into his chest, truley frightened. He wrapped his wings around me, and kissed the top of my head. "Everything's going to be alright." I could hardly pull myself away. I looked up frightened of the king macaw.

He looked back at my scared disposition with deep sympathy. His look of sypathy changed to one of anger, as he darted his glance towards the macaws that had attempted to end my life. "Who did this?" Then with great embarrasement on his face, Nobli looked up from his bow, and was frightened of the larger king macaw. The king looked at him as if it wasn't his first time finding Nobli trying to kill another bird.

He was still on his knees, and pleaded his case. "You're highness. You must understand. We could not trust the toucans. When this female entered our lands, I feared she would try to take us over. Then I tried to stop her. She was a danger to us."

The king looked at me, and waved for me to come closer. He hooked a wing over my shoulder, and told the large macaw to look at me. "Look at this young toucan, Nobli. She is barely a year old. Not to mention that, but you are twice her size. How could she possibly be a danger? Besides, don't try. I saw the whole thing. No wonder the toucans hate us so." The agressive Nobli looked ashamed of himself, and rebowed his head. The macaw looked at all the other macaws, and then turned his back. "You will learn the respect of your fellow bird . . . my son. Or you will never to uphold my throne." He said in a kingly squawk. "You all disgust me as a kingdom." It was hard for me to believe he was a prince. I could hardly imagine him as a king, if he were to kill us toucans.

He led us into the deep woods of the evergreen tropics. I started seeing females in the hollowed out tree holes. They were big, and beautiful. I was astounded by them. I noticed a few of them out of holes. Apparently they chose not to breed. None of the other toucans decided to breed during this wet season except me, so I could understand if they chose not to. They were beautiful when they flew overhead.

The king stopped at a hollowed out hole that was double sided. It was large enough to fit four macaws in it. He headed inside with a large female. She wasn't as large as the male macaw, but much larger than the other females. "I must apoligize for my son's awful behavior. He is unfit to bare my crown." He said stomping the side that belonged to him. "You must understand that not all of my subjects are as foolish as my son." He said stomping the bottom of the hollow thouroughly then turning around. I noticed a few of the females were giggling at my husband. A few of them swooned just looking at him. They looked out of their holes, and waved at him smiling flirtatiously. I smiled at their admiration of Runako. A couple of younger macaws were by our sides in no time, offering us a few berries. "Alright." The king laughed putting his crown upon his head. "I know you toucans, and your silly games. You." He pointed towards me, with a wide smile. "You are Makeeda's little girl. If I know correctly, I can recognize those pretty eyes anywhere." I laughed, as he ruffled my head feathers. Not many birds called my mother by her real name, but as a king, I suppose he had the same rank as my mother. The queen of the macaws laughed, her squawky laugh. Apparently the king and queen were more of a kind hearted soul than their son. "Alright princess. I know your mother, and her silly antics. What's all this nonsense really about?"

I looked at Runako, and he nodded. I stepped closer. "This is no game your highness." I sighed. He looked at me with a serious glance. "I have come baring witness of a new species of human that walks the villages." I said to him. He looked worriedly at me. "They are of something of a different world. I know not enough of them to make out their real porpose, though they claim to be here to learn." He looked down at the ground below the trees, and shook his head. He then closed his eyes and sighed heavily. I knew this was of great importance to him as well, and though his flock was quite stubborn, he still cared for it with all his heart. "I am unafraid, though my flock is still concerned. My mother thought it wise to tell your flock of this new pack of humans." He nodded, and I decided to ask for his help. "I was hoping that I could get a comrad from your flock in helping to observe them."

He looked up at me with soreness in his eyes. "So" He said with pain in his voice. "What they say is true. There really IS a new species of human." I was surprised to see that he already knew a bit. "I was hoping that the other bird kingdoms were lying in saying that there were new humans, but you, being Makeeda's daughter, must be so truthful like your mother." He closed his eyes, for a while, and his queen laid a wing on his shoulder trying to comfort him. She quickly pulled her wing back, when the titanous macaw opened his eyes with burning seriousness in them. He pulled his crown off. "I know not of these strange beings, except what I have heard of them from other bird flocks. You have my permission to allow one of my subjects to observe them. We will need all the information we can get on them."

I bowed to him, as he bowed to me. I left his double hole, and followed him out to his subjects. When we came out the toucans were on one side of the trees, while the maaws were on the other side.

"My children. We have come to an agreement. The princess has informed me that the rumers are true, that there are white humans in our land. I request that one of you follow princess Kikiana to the human's land to observe the new humans."

ThNobli, who I had found out earlier was a prince had stood up. "Well who will do that?" He asked. I hoped it wasn't him. If he was willing to kill me infront of a flock, then lord knew what he would do when we were alone. "Who would be willing to be brave enough to face these beasts? Only the toucans face these humans alone. How can we honestly go up to them witout fear?" All of the macaws stared at me, and my husband. A few of the men looked at me with a sneer. The one that had threatened me, quickly snapped his eyes shut, and turned his head away. The women looked down at us from their holes, and were waiting for a voulunteer. A few of the children were staring at us a bit confused.

Suddenly a macaw that was about the age of twenty came foreward. She looked extremely shy, and beautiful. "I . . . I'll go with her." She said looking at us with a blush on her cheeks.

Everyone smiled in her direction. Even the king looked at her proudly. I saw the emblem around her neck, and noticed it as the seal of the princess. The one that had threatened me looked over at the girl macaw that voulunteered and smiled. "Ahh my sister Ginean . . . excellent choice." He said proud of his sister. I nodded, and smiled. She came over, and we kissed cheeks, and gave each other a hug. As soon as the meetings, and other topics were over, us toucans left the lands.

We didn't get a warm farewell. I could hear the macaws yelling insults about us. The princem, Nobli didn't take it easy on us. "Yeah, that's right pretty boy. Take your wife, and get out of here." He scowled. I hated the thought of how aggrivating the macaws could act. "Hey toots. Don't let me find you in our evergreens ever again. Next time you will pay with your life." I felt that this was not the last time we would encounter


	5. The dark discovery

Chapter 5

I laid there on my eggs the next day. All five of them snug underneath me. felt good in my nest. When I was in my nest nothing could wrong, or so it felt. While my husband was out foraging for food, I sat there with my family. I wondered how long it would take til my brothers decided to start having a family of their own. A bit after the sun hit it's peak, I would be heading out soon. The whole macaw incident had left me quite flustered, especially toward the males. I had never seen anything like that, but us toucans were never pressured into going into their territory. Our side was mainly peacefull, but we knew that their side was very dark and not too colorful. While we had things such as the yellow jaguars, and brightly lit anacondas, we could make things out. On their side however, there were dark things that could not be easily seen, such as tapirs, and Black Caimans. it was a dark area therefore many dark animals found good hiding spots.

I looked and saw that Runako was returning with his food. Now was the moment for me to venture out to observe the humans. I got up, to let Runako sit on them. He crouched down upon my five children. Before he sat on them all the way, I took a look at my chidren. I looked at them, and Runako looked at them with me. I was so excited to have them hatch. They were so beautiful. I laid my wings on them, and could swear I felt them kicking. Runako laid his wing on them as well. When these toucans were going to hatch, we would have the happiest life together. He gently nudged me out of the nest, and I nodded, agreeing that I should head out since the scarlet macaw would probably wonder where I was at.

I flew towards the river. Since it was wet season most of the land was a bit flooded. I looked down to see a few river dolphins foraging for fish. They wer so marvelous. An animal unlike anything I had ever seen. I kept going, until I saw Ginean, the princess of the scarlet macaws, up ahead. She looked ovet toward me with a half glare. She was probably wondering what had caused me to be late. "Come on." She huffed. "Let's get this over with." I snickered, and nodded. "So how exactly am I suposed to be able to tell them apart?" She asked. "I mean, to me the humans all look the same. How will we be able to tell which ones are new, and which ones are the villagers?"

I looked at her knowing she had no idea what was in store for her. "Oh, trust me. When you see a two skinned human, you will be able to tell them apart." I told her. She shrugged, and when we had been flying across the river, the small huts of the village came into view. I was so excited and flew as I could over to the village. What a marvelous adventure it would be to see these humans again. They were fascinating enough the first time, and it would be even more fun to see them again. I landed on a tree, and smiled staring off into their direction.

Suddenly in a far off distance I heard. "Hey Kikiana. Please wait for me." I looked as Ginean was slowly flying in my direction. Wow! For a group of stubborn, and pridefull birds, their type sure were slow. I waited impatiently for her to catch up. "Please, don't go so fast. I'm twenty seven years old." She scowled. I smiled at her, and rolled my eyes at her spoiled attitude. "Oh don't look at me like that. When you're twenty seven you'll know what it's like."

I got up on the tip of the branch to get a closer look at the village, to see if the two skinned humans were there. "Well, by the time I'm twenty seven I'll be dead. Oh look! There's one of them." I pointed to a two skinned human. I can only guess it was a female. She was beautiful. I lookled at Ginean, and she looked at her as if she were petrified. "Aren't they fantastic?" I smiled.

She looked scared. "Sure they're great. Well, we saw them, now let's get out of here!" She started flapping, but before she could escape, I clutched her left wing.

I rolled my eyes. "Tell, me you aren't getting cold feathers on me,now are you?" I whined. I pulled her closer to the tribe, and she looked at me as if I insulted her. We made it over to the tribe, and I hid amung the trees. I looked into Caddo's hut, and he was with his woman. Sure enough the white two skinned people were there. There was a two skinned human in the hut. A boy human. He had no second skin on today. He had shed his clothes, probably so Caddo would accept him. To get a closer look, we jumped through a hole in the hut to see what was going on. We perched on the high wooden beams.

The white human, who now had no second skin, except near his belly button, was sitting in a circle, with a few of the men from the village. Caddo was cutting a piece of bamboo, and constructing a pipe. I knew that smoking was a number one social activity, so I figured they would do that to be accepted. The new visitor took a deep breath, and coughed loudly. Caddo couldn't help but laugh, and I could tell that this human most likely never did anything like this.

After that, we left to see other places. There was another white human, outside of the hut. He held a strange thing I had never seen before. It was very peculiar. The villagers were astounded as well. I saw them group around it. It was best explained to be a bunch of leaves. These leaves were white, and incredibley thin. One side of the leaves were seeming to be stuck together, and did fall apart. The most astounding was there were images on the white leaves. Each leaf had something different on it. It was something that had quite intrigued the villagers as well as intrigued me. The translator said "This is something called a book." He said clearly. These "books" as they were called, were hopefully plentiful were these people came from. I liked them alot.

One of them most amazing things was the last thing Ginean and I saw. We saw on the outskirts, a group of the female villagers. They were grouped around one of the two skinned humans. This was a very special one though. This was a female two skinned human. She was showing the women something very wonderous. I could only describe it as something from heaven. She watched as the women slowly departed. This was now my chance to see one of these humans up close.

"Come on, Ginean. I want to see one of these humans up close." I smiled.

She shook her head. "No thank you. I would much rather stay up here, in the trees, where it's safe."

I shrugged, and flew down to this marvelous being. "Suit yourself." I landed on the ground, and she momentarily gasped at my sudden arrival. As scared as I was, I stood my ground in order to see this amazing creature. I planted my feet, hoping she would not hurt me. She was so beautiful, that I could hardly stand it. She looked down at me, a bit amazed, and smiled. I was a great deal nervous, and didn't know what to do. This human took off a second skin that covered her hand, which I later learned was something called a "glove".

With great caution she moved her hand slowly near my beak. I took a frightened step back. Suddenly the strange language came pouring out of the humans mouth. She looked frightened, and a bit stressed from my sudden movements. The translator said earlier that it was a language called "english". As she came slower, I figured it was safe, and watched as she carefully pulled her hand closer to my face. Would this white color of her skin hurt when touched? Would it feel different from the villagers hand? Would it be hot, or cold? I flinched, when i felt it touch my beak. It didn't feel any different. Her hand went from my beak to my cheek. I smiled knowing that it was safe, and I let her get closer to me. I nuzzled my beak up agaist her, knowing she wouldn't hurt me. When I looked behind me, I saw Ginean's face, and she was astounded. Up close this human was so much more different than the villagers. The human then smiled, and stroked my feathers.

This human showed me what she was showing to the others. She laid it down. I fumbled back a bit to let it sit on the ground. It was what I could only describe as a large rock. It was a bit bigger than I was. She flipped over a certain part of the rock, and in a instant there I was. It showed a reflection of me. The translator walked up, and said. "Wow it seems the toucan has taken a shine to the video camera." It was like something from another world. I looked amazing at my reflection. It was as if I was talking to myself. I got my neck closer, and sniffed it, to make sure it wasn't another toucan. To my surprise it smelled nothing like a toucan. I hopped over to it, to see for myself. Whenever I moved, it moved along right with me. I tried pecking it a few times to be certain. When I hopped around it, there was no toucan on the other side, so this "video camera" must have had some way to make it seem like I was there. Was there no end to the new humans wonders?

That evening when Ginean and I were headed out to forage, before headed home, we discussed the humans. We went a direction opposite our home, so that we didn't over hunt for fruits, and nuts in our spot. She was not pleased with with my courage. I supposed that she was too worried for my safety. That was a feature that a wouldn't expect from her kind towards one of my species. Still, I appreciated it. "You were crazy to do that, princess Kikiana. That thing could have hurt you, or hurt me." She sputtered.

"Well it didn't did it? Besides I think they are so very interesting. Just the kind of new zing this jungle needs." I scoffed. I looked over the jungle grounds I had so well remembered. Though they were far from my home, I could easily remember my way through them. it was a great way to get to the rarest fruit of the amazon. The western part was a great spot for it. I was sure that my husband could wait a while till I returned for my shift. While we ventured to the closer depths of the rainforest, we saw the spot covered with different fruits, nuts, and berries. We ventured below the canopies, and emergent layer of the trees, and ventured to the forest floor. A few red grapes were growing, and we managed to eat our fair share.

We stayed on the forest floor, so that we didn't have to suffer the stress of flying on a full stomach. Suddenly about five jaguars lunged out at us. I was terrified, and wrapped my wings around Ginean, as she did the same. We waited fo the kuill, but it never came. Opened our eyes to see the jaguars running past us. We looked at each other a bit puzzled. I was confused. After all jaguars were the toucans number one enemy. "They didn't even look at us." I stated to Ginean.

"Well, I'm just glad I survived." She snarled.

"But that was so strange." I whimpered. "They looked a bit frightened. I say we investigate." I said curious. I started in the direction that the jaguars came from.

She looked at me not believing me. "Let's don't and say we did. Please, do you just love trying to get yourself killed? If the jaguars were running away, don't you think we should run too?"

I was trying to plead my case. "Well, if it caused the jaguars to run, then perhaps it's something new to the forest that the new humans brought with the, Think about it. It's not everyday you see a jaguar frightened." I ran in the direction the jaguars cam from. "I won't make you go, but i have to see what's going on."

I heard her whimpering sounding further and further away. Then I heard her squaking loudly. "Kikiana wait up!" She followed me, and the further we went, we eventually saw a group of parrots going in the other direction, and after that, a pair of marmosets leapt from a tree they were in. I knew something was going awry. Why were all these animals running away? That's when we saw a tiny stampede of animals runing straight towards us. Poison dart frogs of all colors, anteaters, turtles, a few anacondas, capybaras, and spider monkeys made up this stampede. I had never sen such a differen variety of animals running at the same time, unless it was from each other. there was something seriously going on here. I needed to stop somebody.

I snatched one of the anacondas tails. "What's going on? Is something wrong? Why is everyone scared?"

He turned towards me. "Back there. There is something the new humans have. It is a giant shiny animal that is eating the forest." That was when I let go. That was not something I was expecting. Something that two skinned humans had was causing this? Not only that but it was eating the forest? That's when I had to see this for myself. If the humans were causing trouble then I couldn't be able to trust them so easily anymore. I flew as fast as i could in the direction they ran from. When I finally stopped there wasn't a sound. Not a chirp, or a growl. That was the oddest. I pushed a plant to the side, I saw the most horrifying thing I had ever seen.

What Ginean and I saw was something not normal. There was an open space of pure nothing. There were no trees, or even any plants. Everything was gone. The only traces that there were once trees were broken hunks of wood. It was a clear dirt ground, and pieces of charred wood. A few spots of the dirt floor were smoking with heat. There were no trees that were visible for miles. On the sides of the open space, you could see where it traveled by the trees lining the space ever so perfectly. It was like they had some way of making it a clean cut. On the horizon many miles away, you could see a line cutting through the forest. That must have been the trail it left.

Moving was hard when you were paralyzed with fear. Ginean was scared as well. I flew back home with all the energy I could muster up. She had headed back to her kingdom as well. I knew that if the humans could do this much damage by being in the rainforest for only a few days, who knew how long it took before they took out the rest of the trees? I saw my kingdom not too far off. I zoomed through the leaves and shouted the first thing that came to mind. "I WAS WRONG! THE TWO SKINNED HUMANS ARE NOT FRIENDLY!" Every toucan turned their heads towards me, and whoever didn't looked confused, looked either worried, or angry.


	6. Venturing close

Chapter 6

I was completely frazzled. It was tough to believe that so much forest was gone. The humans had only been here a couple of days, and the forest area that was gone seemed like a task that required a few years, and that was without stopping. It was unbarable for me to comprehend. Pogo and Davi looked at me worriedly, and I got to my feet, letting them know that I would be okay. It was just a little much. Pogo put the necklace over my head, as they put on theirs. My mother flew over to us, and she adorned her head with a crown. I wasn't in a mood to talk to her. After all I had already told her everything I had seen. She grabbed the bottom of my beak, to look me in the eye. "Kikiana, my dear. Will you be alright, in todays meeting?" I looked at her, and then looked back down. Nodding in assurance. "Are you sure? Because, you know you don't have to attend, if you don't want to." I held up a wing assuring her I wouldn't need to be let off the council. "All right, but you don't have to speak, if you choose not to." I nodded once, and hugged my mother. She sighed to me, feeling sorry for me, which was something I didn't need. "My poor baby girl."

My brothers grabbed me in a hug, feeling sorry for their big sister. I didn't like being pittied. "My big sis Kiki, shouldn't have to go through this."

The toucans had not been as ecstatic as before. They had not jumped branches, or been getting excited. Not a single bird was speaking. It was pure silence. I didn't blame them. At first it was bad enough to guess whether or not the two skins were hostile or not. Now there was no denying it. I pulled the leaf to the side, being silent as the grave. The other toucans looked at me scared out of their minds. A mother looked at me clearly worried for her children, that perched next to her. It was so hard to look at them. The elders all gathered amung themselves, on a perch that was closer to us. I knew that they felt sorry for me, and that they were happy that the horror I saw didn't happen to them.

My mother heavy heartedly walked out of behind the leaves. The toucans all silently looked in her direction. There was no need to calm them all down. They were already silent. My mother looked at all their faces. Then with a sigh she began. "Alright. Some of you all know of the news. It is true. The new humans threaten us." The toucans were all silent and looked around themselves, to take in the faces next to them.

I saw a young couple drop their faces, and hug closely in grief. My mother proceeded. "My daughter witnessed, miles of trees, that had dissappeared. You can see her grief of this. She chooses to be quiet about it, and not talk about it, which allows me to speak of it."

A boy toucan that was a bit younger than me spoke up. "Well what do we do? If these humans are dangerous, then will we resort to leave our homes, in order to find another?" Every toucan turned towards me, knowing that I had a clutch of five eggs, and couldn't leave them out in the cold for very long. My mother looked at me with a sad look.

Then she spoke once again. "I feel that these humans will leave eventually, but not without doing a great deal of harm to the forest. I don't know how much of the forest they will leave to allow survival. If our home is one of the spots that will be taken away, then I will devise a plan to get us out, with of course a plan to get Kiki's children out as well.

I decided to speak next. "But what if I-" All of a sudden my beak was clicked shut.

My mother held it shut. "SILENCE!" She announced. "Does anyone hear that?" I wasn't answering considering my closed beak. There was a low rumble. It felt like the ground was shaking. I was terrified. The sound was coming from the direction that led opposite of the tribes people. I looked at my mom once she let go, then the flock flew off in the direction it was coming from. I could hear the roar getting louder.

I finally saw what the anaconda was telling me about. Many miles away, we saw a line of the trees dissappearing. We got closer to where we could take a peak at this monster. We finally got to where we could catch a glimpse of it. In the far off distance it was smaller, but still noticable. Up close it must have been titanous. It was shiny, and huge. Far bigger than any animal I've ever seen. It was a shiny color like fish scales, except it wasn't made of scales, but rather smooth skin. It's legs weren't normal, but made up of giant twirling circular blades. There was a pole like thing at the top which smoke was coming out of. The smoke was dark, and grey. It had two large claws, that were sharp at the end. We had no idea what it was. What happened next struck fear into our hearts.

It turned in our direction, and was coming towards the kingdom. I heard one of the younger toucans get frightened. "It's coming this way!"

I shouted warnings. "Hide, everyone, hide! If they can't see us, then they won't know we're here! We musn't let them find the kingdom!" We all flew down past the canopies, and down to the understory layer to where our holes were. In a flash we delve to our holes, and tried to get in as deep into the holes as we could. The roar of the shiny silver mechanical monster was growing. We knew it could take out a dozen of us in the blink of an eye, but the only thing we could do was hide, and hope it would overpass us. Fear gripped all of us. Suddenly on a center branch, there was a baby toucan that was crying for it's parents. The parents were probably looking for her. I knew I had to make a decision. Runako grabbed my wing and tried to pull me into our hole, but I acted as fast as I could. I plunged down to the lower branch and bit onto her scruff, and hoisted her up to our hole. Nobody in my kingdom would die on the hands of the these humans, if I could stop it. We pulled her in, and the last of the toucans scurried into their homes. The roar was unbearable to our ears.

Suddenly silence. The roar was gone. Not a sound. Not a chirp, or a whimper. I held the young toucan girl close hoping that whaetever was happening would pass us over. I looked into the holes at all the frightened faces. Fearfull for the lives of my people I tried to hear any trace of the shiny creature, but all noise was gone. You couldn't hear a sound. Not the purr of a jaguar, or the croak of a tree frog. All was silent. Suddenly there was a voice of a human. I cautiously looked down to the depths of the forest floor below. What I saw was something no toucan has seen in over a thousand years.

The two skinned humans had ventured into our home. Our kingdom was now at their mercy. Everyone was still as the grave. Not a single one of us dared to peak at them. I knew that some of the toucans had never seen a human in their life. Suddenly at the dead center of our kingdom, the one that I had come to recognize as the leader, had held up a hand, and snapped his fingers pointing up at one of the trees. With a look of fright, I stared at the hole that laid in the tree. A young female toucan with two children. They looked confused at my stare.

When I looked back down, the human had taken out a shiny looking tool, and as if like a monkey, he scaled the tree with ease, with no tail. Adrenaline was pumping into my system as he got higher, and closer to the nest. Suddenly he was mere centimeters away. I saw the family of three frightened. The mother stared wide eyed with fright at this and clutched her children who were also scared. They held onto their mothers feathers. He sat on the branch stemming from the hole's opening. Out of a bag, he held a telescope, and looked out through the trees. As soon as he did, he climbed back down, and the family suddenly eased with relief. It ws a good thing he hadn't noticed their nest. On an opposite side, I saw another one of the two skinned on an opposite branch. There was hole in that tree as well. A young couple, with a boy. When the human turned his back, the young toucan ventured to the opening of the hole, and the husband clutched him back forcefully.

It felt like an eternity. The humans would scale the trees, and we would keep silent, waiting for them to leave our tree. So far nobody's nest was found out. Without a warning suddenly a human sat at our tree. The branch sticking out was sat on, making us think it would snap. I was terrified, and saw Runako hold his wing over the small toucan that was in our hole. As she sat there in my lap, I was scared for my life. I felt Runako lay his other wing on mine. Close to passing out, I was scared for one thing, above all others. My eggs.

Taking a deep yet silent breath, I slipped my free wing onto the five unborn angels that lay beneath me. I was so terrified, that they wouldn't survive. After what seemed like hours, I watched the human go down the tree, to the forest floor below. All of the other humans left as well, gathering around the leader. The leader of the humans had a large white leaf, and drew a picture on it. A large _X _was drawn on the outer part. He then nodded, and they walked off in the direction they came. A loud roar of the monster was heard, and then it slowly died down. We figured they were all gone. Slowly we all emerged from the holes. We figured they were gone. I carried the little girl out to the center.

When I put her down she ran over to a couple of toucans that I assumed were her parents. "Moma Dada!" She leapt into their wings, and they craddled her close.

The mother ran over to me, and hugged me tightly. "Oh, thank you so much your majesty. I thought we had lost our little girl." The little girl hugged my leg, in appreciation, and gratitude. Her face was one amung thousands of other animals that I soon found out would haunt me for the rest of my life.

That night, I laid in the nest. The eggs comfy underneath me. I knew that at any time they would soon be born, but I had no clue whether or not they would make it. When the humans had left our place, we had decided to leave in three days. The question was, would our current kingdom grounds last that long? I looked up at the night sky. The stars overhead twinkling from heaven. I would have traded anything to find out that none of this madness was happening. Unfortunately it was. What would become of us. Would we all die, leaving no trace of our existance behind? What other animals would be swept away? Was the macaws kingdom already gone? I could hardly sleep.

Runako was keeping his eyes closed. I knew he wasn't asleep. I knew that the others had fallen asleep, but we were the only ones awake, for we knew that there would be difficulty getting our eggs to safety. I kept quiet. Not a word was spoken. Runako lay there trying to sleep. The crickets chirped as they always had. The stars were twinkling as they always had, and the toucans were slumbering as they always had. Things seemed the same, but weren't the same at all. Did the village know what the humans were doing? Were the villagers still alive? I had hoped so. If they were gone, that only left us with the bad humans. Suddenly as if by magic he knew what I was thinking.

"You know some toucans are probably thinking that these visitors are signaling the end of the rainforest." I looked over at him as he whispered so carefully. He opened his eyes, and looked at me. His blue eyes so sweet.

I nodded. "Yes. I know." Being ever carefull, he laid his wing onto my back, and I laid against him.

Runako looked out towards the spot where they came from. "So. What do you think will happen to our kind? Do you think they have enough skill to wipe out the entire rainforest?"

I looked down, because I honestly didn't know how to answer that. The thought of them being able to take out the entire rainforest seemed impossible for such a small group of humans to do. "I don't know. Besides what I believe doesn't matter. The important thing is that they have have made their decision that we're next." His wing rested in mine, and I sighed heavily. I had hoped he would try to comfort me like he always does. Instead he said something that I hadn't expected he would say.

"Don't dwell, if I die." I looked at him. What did he just say? "I'm serious, Kikiana. I know how much you love me, and how much you hate to let your loved ones go. There is a chance that I might not make it through this disaster. If the sun sets upon my time, then don't feel guilty about finding somebody to love you." I shook my head, not believing what I was hearing. "You will have to rise up and find a second king, if I become deceased."

I shook my head tears welling in my eyes. "Don't say things like that." He looked down as if he were really in danger. "I can't. I don't _want_ to forget you. You are irreplacable."

He smiled and grabbed my beakline. "I'm not saying that you have to forget. Moving on, to find somebody else isn't forgetting me. Remember, you are a mother of five. That can be stressfull. If I ever do pass on, you will need to find somebody to help you take care of the children. Even when they are gone from the nest, it doesn't mean that you have to restrict yourself to me, if I am gone."

"What makes you think your time will end now?" I asked wondering why he would think such things.

He shrugged. "Perhaps I feel these humans are not here just for our trees. Perhaps they are after much more. I think . . . they are after us." That night was the last time I would ever see my husband and babies ever again.


	7. Distruction

Chapter 7

I woke up early the next day. I knew that in two days, we would have to move our nests. I decided that before Runako woke up, that I would grab a bit of breakfast. I thought that if I could grab breakfast, then I could definitely spend the whole day with my babies. I flew out of the hole to see what the rainforest had left. I flew over the river dolphins. Their squeals were like music in my ears. At least they wouldn't be hurt. When I reached the other side, I looked out to see what was left. The shiny monster hadn't gotten the other side of the river yet thank heavens. I soared south, figuring that it would be best to stay on my side, and not venture too far off.

How could I have been so careless, and not be so alert of my kingdom? I felt a bit pathetic. I flew as far as my wings could carry me. I thought that if I could get a good distance then I could get far off fruits, so that when we left our home, the closer fruits would be easier to grab. It was all my fault. I shouldn't have trusted the new species of humans so easily. I took a banana off a tree, and tried to husk it with my beak. The yellow sugary fruit was settling to me. I liked it.

Out of nowhere, I felt something warning me. When I glanced up. I saw a frightened flock of scarlet ibis. When I looked at the forest floor Puma were running in the direction of my kingdom. Nervously I looked next to the river. It seemed to be rippling on it's own. I quickly knew the ground was shaking. I looked up to see what I had feared. Getting closer fast was the monster that was destroying the forest. It was coming towards me! For a moment I couldn't move being paralyzed in fear. It was impossible to move. Suddenly my body kicked into overdrive, and I flew fast.

The monsters roar was beyond any thunder storm I had ever heard. The sound was awfull and just a few feet away from me. The first place I was headed for was for the kingdom. This thing was getting closer to us, and we could no longer wait three days. The flock had to move, and they had to do it now. We had run out of time. I flew through the trees that I knew were being devoured right behind me. Each tree loosing it's life. One after another. Now I understood how this monster could clear so many trees. At first it seemed impossible, but this abomination proved me wrong, and showed me what it was capable of. I could barely imagine what animal could have been using those trees as homes. Sloths, Potoos, Tarantulas. Those types of animals wouldn't be able to get away fast enough. I was terrified at the thought thinking that a thousand animals could have just lost their lives.

I couldn't let the same happen to my people, or worse. My babies, and husband. My reminder of them forced me to fly as fast as I possibly could. I could feel my wings feeling the exhaustion. It hurt them tremendously. My mother. My brothers. The children. Runako. My mind was in full panic, and I only knew that I needed to save them all. I wanted so bad to rest my wings, but I couldn't. Not only would my family be massacred before I would reached them, had I stopped, but also this beast was on my tail. If I stopped in a tree, the tree would no doubt be broken down with me in it.

I zoomed past, but a large branch nicked me in the face. I landed on the forest floor hard and sudden. I knew that this was the end for me. In a flash I saw a bright rainbow of colors, as I started to be dragged through the air. Who had saved my life. When I looked up it was a face that I had not been expecting. The scarlet macaw king's son? Why would he risk his life to save mine? I thought he had tried to kill me a few moons ago. He was holding onto one of my wings, while he flew with the other. I contributed by flapping my free one. He was headed for my kingdom, to get me to safety. We were still a few feet away from the monsters claws and blades. They spinned mercilessly. Well, if he was willing to save me, I wasn't going to ask questions.

I looked up at the scarlet macaw prince, and the look on his face said he was flying as fast as he could. "HOW DID YOU KNOW THE METAL MONSTER WAS HERE?" I screamed through the roar of the giant machine.

"IT TOOK MY KINGDOM'S ENTIRE FLOCK OUT OVERNIGHT. I WAS AT THE SALT LICK, SO I'M THE ONLY ONE LEFT." My mind quickly leapt to what I remembered about the scarlet macaw kingdom. Their towering evergreens. The king and queen, Ginean, and even the children that had looked at me through the holes in the trees. They were all gone. How could this monster keep going? had it not killed enough? This was rediculous. I started wondering if thing was even alive.

"HOW CAN THIS THING STILL BE GOING? DOES IT EVER STOP?" I hollared. When I turned around it was an upsetting sight. I noticed that in the front it had no face, but instead it held a big shiny wall, that you could see through. Inside of the wall there were two of the two skinned humans. they were operating the machine from the inside.

He shouted as he flew. "THIS MONSTER DOESN'T STOP TO EAT OR SLEEP. I THINK THAT THIS MONSTER ISN'T EVEN AN ANIMAL. I THINK IT'S A TOOL THAT THE HUMANS USE. AN ANIMAL WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DO THIS MUCH DAMAGE. THIS IS ALL THE HUMANS FAULT." The two skinned humans inside the machine looked at us as we were trying to dodge it. I could only assume we were in the way. Well if it couldn't see where it was going, then it definitely wouldn't know how to get to my kingdom. There was a small opening in the machine's side. While I was frantically trying to get away, the prince had a weird look in his eye. "I'M SORRY THAT I ALMOST KILLED YOU. BUT I'LL TRY TO REPAY MY DEBT. YOU KEEP FLYING AND DON'T LOOK BACK." He slowly let go, so I could regain my flying. I heard him mumble over the roar of the monster. "Time to win back your honor." He said to himself. He zoomed off and circled around to enter the opening of the side. He dove straight into the belly of the beast. I looked behind me to see what he was doing. In the inside part. I saw him swoop in, and try to use his talons on the two humans inside. One of them quickly pulled a knife out, and was trying to use it on him. I couldn't watch.

For nearly five minutes, I was flying for my life. I could only assume the worst happened to the prince. He tried to save me, but in returned must have been vanquished inside the beastly destroyer. When I saw the river in sight, I saw that the dolphins were acting eratic. They were splashing from the sight of the killer behind me. I knew that they were frightened as well. I was going as fast as I could. The kingdom only half a mile away. If only I could get to the kingdom before this monster could get to them. Suddenly a heard a low buzz, and when I turned around. The large claws that it had, protruded in front of it. They seemed to be like large arms. Then one swiped at me. At first I thought it was just trying to scare me, but then it tried once more to get rid of me. Another time the large claw tried to kill me. I was now having to dodge this beast, as well as dodging the trees in my path. The kingdom was in sight. I was nearly there. If I could just get to them, they might be able to run.

Suddenly everything was in chaos. I felt the cold merciless claw slam into my side. My wing was in a pain unlike any known form of pain. Like a stone to a leaf, it swung me with ease. I felt the pain in my wing, before I slammed into the tree closest to me. What did it do to my wing? Now I don't know why the slam came so fast. Perhaps it was the force of the claw, or the fact that I was so light. The wood was much softer than the monster's claw was. I felt myself falling to the forest floor. When i hit it didn't feel so painfull. It was more cushioning to the fact that the small plants were comforting the floor beneath. I was so woozey, and dazed from the slam that I couldn't move, or at least couldn't move without pain coursing through my body. All I could feel was numbing cold. Unconsiousness was tugging at my body. I laid there on my side. My ribs hurt, and a headache nearing. The main thing that hurt above all else was my right wing. I was slipping into unconciousness quickly. I saw the evil creation get closer to the first tree that made up my kingdom. I wanted to get up, but all I could do was lay there. I finally lost it and passed out fully, but after all went back I heard a shrieking scream.

Never in my life had such a horrific pain just seem to drift away.


	8. Last moment

Chapter 8

I don't remember much of waking up from the ground, considering that the first sensation that came back from my non moving body was hearing. What I heard was not normal, as I would soon find was similar in other senses. My hearing was not of the chirping of birds, or of crickets. No croaks of frogs, or hissing of snakes. It struck me as odd. How could there be no sound. I always woke up to sounds. Never in my life had I woke up deaf. Was I loosing my hearing? I groaned loudly to assure myself of my ears. It came out as a short light chirp that was associated with our kind. Well now I knew that I could hear clearly, but why was that all I could hear? There had to be some sort of explaination.

I tried opening my eyes. I could always trust my eyes, right? When I opened one eye the rays of red setting sun burned my eyes with no promise of shade. It was that moment that I remembered what I had been knocked out by. My body jolted up, with my wing sending electric shocks of agony through my skeletal structure. Remembering my wing in pain was sending things coursing faster. It was the monster that did this to me! I laid back down on the the side of my body that wasn't hurt. Looking at my wing, I realised it wasn't so natural in the way it was bent. I needed to bend it the right way, or it would keep hurting. I positioned it the way it was supposed to be. It was the most painfull form of hurt I ever felt. After many agonizing straightening positions, I fixed it right. Still it hurt like crazy. I could only assume my wing was broken. I folded it over my chest. Holding it close, as to keep it from becoming more damaged.

The right wing was occupying me so much, that I hadn't noticed that my home was gone. I looked up to look at my surroundings. A small gasp of disbelief arose from my voice. The ground was the exact same one that I was used to seeing over head. Same dips, and color, but no longer were there safe wonderful trees covering it. The lush blanket of plants were gone from the ground. Not a sigle flower rose from the dirt. It was a dark barren wasteland of nothingness. The only name that leapt to my mind was the name that echoed through the empty world.

RUNAKO!

When I rose to my feet, I ran to the area that would hold my tree. Why would I think that that my tree made it when all the others were gone? When I got to the spot were I knew as home, the tree I hd known to love was gone. If there was no tree then there was no nest. No nest meant that there ws no eggs. I couldn't imagine seeing my beautiful eggs gone. Their eggs cracked, and bleeding A single one to never hatch. Forever stuck in their shells to see the light of day. Their tender feet would not get to walk. There would be one less shadow over the mighty Amazon, when the skies would never be witnessed with one of my children flying. When I looked around I called the only name I could. "Runako? Runako, please! Runako where are you?" Tears flooded my eyes when I heard no response. I fell to my knees, knowing for once that my family was gone. Nevermore would I ever get to see my radiant mother, my fun loving little brothers, or the rest of my flock ever again.

In the far off distance about fifteen feet away, heard a fait groan that sounded like it was in pain. A large bundle of branches were in a pile. If there was one shred of hope that a toucan had survived, then I had to spend a final hour with them. I had just hoped it would be who I thought it was. I ran over to the pile, and pushed the branches aside, slowly uncovering the trapped bird inside. In one final large branch, I was revealed the face of the toucan I had hoped it would be. A face that was unmistaken in my eyes. It was none other that Runako. I cleared every branch crushing his body, and held his body up slightly, so that he could at least see something other than the sky, but there was no more to see, but me, his wife. His face was the very way I had last seen it. Unbruised, and beak uncracked. His face was the one I had loved all my life. When he opened his eyes he looked into mine and smiled. I smiled back to him, but it felt impossible to smile, when I saw him in the state he was in now. "Kikiana" He whispered faintly.

"Runako." I smiled to him.

"The flock and the little ones are gone." He sighed. I knew it was true. They were indeed all gone but not him.

"Oh no." I cried.

He gently laid a weak wing in my unbroken wing, and frowned. "I'm afraid that I will not make it, as I have told you. I can no longer go on." He said as his eye shimmered in mine. Our souls were somehow mended into one at that moment.

Quickly I shook my head. "No we will make it out of here alive. I can promise you that. I'm gunna get you to the nearest tree. It's bound to be out there . . . somewhere." My eyes scanned the horizon. Not a single tree was seen. All that could be seen was a few smoldring pieces of wood that were left behind, by the giant monsters appetite.

A weak smile floated onto his beak. "No, my love. It is alright. I do not want to go on. I must join our children in heaven." Tears welled and spilled over my cheeks to meet at the end of my beak, as I pulled his head close to me. "I will take great care of them. Do not forget. You may move on to find someone else, and that is alright, my wife. Just do not forget me." I nodded to him. I would never forget him, and the joy he brought me my life. "I love you, and I always will, Kikiana, my wife." He said with a strong yet quiet voice. "My love. My queen."

I nodded with all the courage I had left. "I will never forget you, Runako. My loved one. My prince. My king." I said squinting my eyes. In one final kiss we said our final farewell. When we broke the kiss, he laid a loving hand on my cheek, and stared into my eyes, as he slowly drifted farther and farther away from me. Soon enough his eyes had drawn to drift closed, and his beak had born a peacefull look. With pain and sadness in my heart, his wing drifted from my face, and collapsed next to him. A look of a face that I would cherrish all my life. When I felt that he was gone. I laid his head down carefully, and cried. Laying there with my lover was all I could do. I had cried until the sun had set all the way down. The sun was falling, never to once again rise to a powerfull kingdom. My blood alone was the only blood on this earth that was left of my kingdom. When the moon had risen. I had laid his body down carefully, and covered it with a large leaf to rest peacefully with respect.

That night was the most difficult night I ever felt spending in the forest, or at least what was left of it. The thought that my family was gone scared me horribly. I didn't know where to go. There was nothing left. No fruit trees for food. No holes for toucans to shelter me. All was gone. The sky looked clear without trees to hide them from me. It seemed as though countless stars were overhead. My wing was starting to feel swollen. Pain was inflicting through my body. So this was how a broken bone felt like. I needed to find a place to lie down. One place came to mind.

The Amazon river's edge.


	9. Crocodiles and dolphins

Chapter 9

The river looked like it was the thing least effected by the moster. The water was still there in the same spot. It was not as murky as it usually was granted that it was the wet season. A few of the trees were submerged. The river dolphins would weave through the underwater jungle. The trees that bordered the river still stood tall. Apparently the monster wasn't well skilled in water. I needed to see if the dolphins could tell me anything about what happened while I was unconciouss. The only trouble was they were know to be sort of bottom dwellers, and were extremely shy. Close by, a tree was submerged near it's trunk. It was at an angle so odds were I could easily climb it, without falling in. I wasn't used to climbing as much as flying, so it was difficult for my wing. The further up I got to the tree, the more I saw activity in the water below. A group of crocodiles were underneath. Uh oh. Not the animal I wanted to see. There were many along the banks. The monster must have scared them into the waters. I didn't blame them at all.

I swung down, so that I could be on the lowest branch. It was close enough to talk to them, but not as much as to give them the idea that I was an easy meal. Three of them noticed me, and swam over to the spot where I was perched. They stared up at me and sneered. "Crocodiles!" I called them. They were still circling down below. "Crocodiles. Up here!" They glanced up at me, and frowned upon discovering my species.

"Oh no." One said in disgust. "A keel billed toucan. I hate those!" He had a scar across his long snout. Apparently he had a history of fighting other crocodiles. "They are always accidentally dropping their food along the banks, and the fruit lands on our head!" I could tell right away I was not an accepted animal to them.

"Indeed!" The second one snarled. She was a girl one, that looked quite old. "Such uncivilized creatures, birds are. Perhaps she is here to try it, again." She snarled. A low growl came from the third one. Apparently he was the leader of the nearby bask.

I raised my wings defensively. "Oh no. I would never try such a thing! I was just wondering where the dolphins were. I was sort of hurt when that monster came, and I missed a bit of what happened. I thought that maybe they could tell me what happened. Do you all know of anything? They broke my wing." I said showing the rugged shape it was in. As much as they hated my kind clearly, they did find it a bit unsettling.

The leader spoke next. "I'm not at all surprised by your injury. Humans think they can do anything. As well as dolphins. Dolphins are very smug as well. I think that dolphins are just as bad as the new humans." I looked at them confused.

"Oh so you have seen the humans? Trust me the dolphins have nothing to do with this disaster." I assured them. It was usually in their nature to be a bit aggresive towards the other animals of the forest, though there were barely any animals now. "It was all the _humans _fault. So you've seen the dolphins around here?" I asked courteously.

The scarred one was the next one to answer a question. "We see the river dolphins sometimes. We try to stay away from the filthy things. They don't mind it though. They usually try to stay to themselves. It really rugs up my skin. I think they personally hate us because of our rough housing. We on the other hand are proud of our aggression. Take a look at this scar!" He turned his head, as if he figured I had missed it. When he lifted his head a bit out of the water, it was present that the scar was bigger than I thought.

"Wow that's really uhh . . . impressive." I said not knowing how to respond. " So do you think I can talk to them? Will you let me talk to them?"

The female of the three was the one to speak next. "You can talk to them, but I doubt that they would want to talk to the likes of you, or even want to talk to the likes of us for that matter. They always scoff at other animals as if they're so much better than the rest. They just think they're more . . . Oh what's the word I'm looking for?"

I finished her thought. "I think the word your looking for is, "intelligent."

They looked at me. "huh?" The grunted confused.

I steered them away from the dolphins. "Never mind. Do you know what happened to the monster that destroyed the forest?"

The leader looked at me trying to remember what he saw last. "Well all I remember is that you and that macaw were trying to avoid it. Why did you think you could go against something bigger than you?" They seemed to be getting extremely aggressive. I thought it best to not worry about the dolphins. The important thing was that I had to find a way to survive.

Quickly the female spoke. "Listen to the two of you. Why are you two leatherheads yacking to this morsal, when you could be eating? That giant thing killed all the trees and animals. It's a miracle this thing made it out alive, and I won't sit around, and let it get away!' In an instant I felt the tree shake violently. When I looked down, I saw them slamming the trunk with their mighty tail. Their tail swung like crazy. I held onto the top of the trunk. In an instant I fell, and grabbed onto the branch, with one of my talons. While hanging upside down, I saw a white animal glide up towards the crocodiles. They were geting into a fighting barage of blurrs. Amungst the pandimonium I heard a high pitch squeaky voice that I knew belonged to dolphins.

"Hey you. Stop!"

"Leave that bird alone!"

"She is only a child!"

"Stay away! Shoo!"

I didnt get a good look at them, because I was trying to pull myself back up. Finally my talons gave out, and I was falling to the depths of the waters. Well this was it. The crocodiles would eat me. Suddenly I felt my back slam hard against something rubbery, and slick. When I looked down, I was sitting on a dolphins back. This was too cool. A pod of dolphins were chasing off the crocodiles, and they scurried away. The one that had me on his back look at me, and smiled. "We felt you shaking the tree. We found you with the echoe location. I thought something was going on." He hadn't looked directly at me, since he technically couldn't see me all the way. River dolphins were nearly blind. "Don't trust the crocodiles. They lie about _all_ the animals."

The one that held me on his back looked at me to see if I was hurt. "Are you alright little toucan? Did the crocodiles harm you?" He said alarmed. The other dolphins swam up to me to see what I was like. I suppose that some of them had rarely seen one of my kind. A toucan being seen by a dolphin was just as rare as a dolphin being seen by a toucan.

"I see that your wing looks a bit swollen." One of them said getting extremely close. I glanced at my wing. It wasn't at all pretty. It was getting worse by the minute.

"No it's not too good. I got hurt when the monster came. Trust me. I can handle it." They swam as they carried me. "When it hurt me, I was knocked out. Does anyone know what happened to it?"

A female dolphin shook her head. "I'm sorry. We ran away as soon as we saw you running away. When it came, it was taking out trees wherever it went." I couldn't believe it. That was awfull.

A young male dolphin spoke next. "In a flash, it dissappeared as fast as it came. Not very many trees survived. We haven't seen any birds, or land animals at all. Nothing survived, except you of course." He said sadly. I knew he was right. The river animals must have been the last thing that was left. "You have better eyesight than us. Can you see anything out there?" The night sky was pitch black. I looked out for miles. Nothing could be seen.

I shook my head in dissappointment. "No nothing. As a matter of fact, the crocodiles were the first thing I saw. How could you spot me and the prince? We were further downstream than this.

An adult male swam closer to me. He was obviously the alpha male, since he was in the front. "Well that's where we came from. We saw you running away from it, and followed you. We can't go back down stream. We think that's where the monster was headed. When we went back down that way, we saw the monster in the far distance, and a tube that went from it to the river. It started spraying something in the water." He said with fear remembering. "It was awful. The water got all thick as if it were hardening, then it got really dark. The fish could hardly breath, and a few died. The water got really warm, and you can't swim. We aren't going back there again. We figured that we should stay near the West."

I thought long and hard. "Well, where do you think I should go?"

A young female answered that question. "Well, I think you should head back to your flock, unless they were all wiped out of the forest." I looked at her mournfully, signaling that that was indeed what happened. "Oh I'm sorry. " I was going to tell her it was alright, but it truely wasn't. I should have been there with them, to die with my people with honor. I felt like I had abandoned them. She looked at me with a painfull frown. "I'm sure they were a thriving beautiful flock." I smiled showing that she was right. She smiled back. The dolphins were more kind towards their fellow animal than the Crocodiles let on.

The one that was carrying me spoke next. "Well, I would suggest that the best place for you is upstream. There aren't any trees left, but we could rop you off there, knowing that the monster doesn't go to the same place twice." I thanked them over and over. "We can give you a ride since your wing is broken. I don't know how you'll get on land, beacause we can't get too close or we would beach ourselves."

"I'll find a way." I assured him.


	10. Doomed

Chapter 10

That night was terrible for me. I looked at the barren waste land that was once a forest. The sight was repulsive. I tried to sit down on the dolphin, while keeping my wing safe from being broken worse. It was hurting beyond anything I ever felt. I didn't know how much longer I could take of the pain. The dolphin was slick and felt great. I stroked the skin, and saw the dolphin smile. While sitting down, I closed my eyes, feeling tears fall down my face. I could hardly believe my family was gone. My brothers, Pogo and Davi. Never more would I hear their playfull laughter My beautiful mother. Her exsquisit face to never once more shine upon the forest. My loving husband. Once warming wings, that wrapped me in passion forever ripped away from my body. The children that I once was awaiting to see. I knew that being with the dolphins that I could reflect upon my kingdom. All of them were gone. One of the dolphins stared at me. I could tell he felt empathetic for me. "I'm so sorry." He whispered.

All that was left of the forests were a few trees lining the sides of the river. They seemed to slant into the river, as if protecting it, like the river was in a tunnel made by trees. It seemed very frightening. I didn't feel safe with it. I stayed low so whatever was out in the land, could not see me. I douted anything was out there any longer. But if something was, I didn't want it to see me. The further up we got the cooler the night felt. I had a feeling it was now midnight. Barely anything could be seen. The moonlight was reflecting everything. The reflection danced, and shimmered on the surface of the river. I never knew the river was so large. True, it was called the mighty Amazon, but how mighty could a river be? Wind blew through the land, and there were hardly any trees to block such winds.

The trip upstream seemed to feel like forever. I saw a sign that said, **you are now leving Manaus**. I felt scared of leaving Manaus. I had lived here my whole life. No way could I leave everything behind. I clutched onto my necklace, and breathed deeply. This was difficult, but I had to. If I didn't I would surely die. When I looked around, all of the rainforest there was gone as well. I will never know for sure, but I think there was more than one monster that destroyed the forests. They all looked around as if something was stopping them. "This is as far as we can go. Up ahead is waters that are far too cold." The leader said. I understood. They were very sensitive after all.

"We can try to get you to shore." A female said. I hopped on her back, from the one that was carrying me. She swam with me over to the shore as close as she could I started to notice that she was getting pretty close to the bottom. "Alright this is as close as I can go. If I keep going, then I will get chance of accidentally beaching myself. Don't worry. I'll watch you to make sure you get there." I nodded. Dolphins were quite big, so while she could easily be beached, it will still a swim to me. I had to be carefull with one wing. Pirahnas could be waiting at any spot for an injured animal such as me.

With a deep breath, I plunged in, and swam. It was the most disasterous form of swimming imaginable. it was times like this were I wish I knew some marine bird, that could swim or get me to safety. I was flailing halfhazardly throught the water. The water caused my wings to be heavy making it so much more difficult. I was sure that if I wasn't carefull, or didn't swim right, I would surely drown. Still I kept going. I finally got my footing at the bottom, and tried to get out as fast as possible. Being dripping wet, I hopped on out, and ruffled my feathers trying to get dry as well as warm up.

"Wish me luck!" I called out to them.

They sighed as though they lost their confidence in me. "The best of luck kid. The best of luck." And with a flip of their tail they dissappeared below the waters.

I was on my own now. Where would I go? The land was deprived of trees. None in sight. So I walked. I walked, and walked, and walked some more. The area was so vast, and it all seemed to look the same. no wonder toucans were made for flying. It seemed easier, but that was not an option at the time. I had no idea if I was going in circles, or just walking a far distance. I didn't stop, because had I stopped, there would just be nothing to wait for. The moon overhead was all I could use to guide me. I walked towards the moon. In the midst of walking I spotted people that I thought I would never see again.

The villagers.

They seemed so sad. I saw Caddo holding a burnt piece of wood. He looked at it with tears in his eyes, and slammed it on the floor in rage. His wife had held a baby close crying loudly, her child snugly with her. They must have been just as surprised as we toucans were. The people were gathered around a fire, with sadness in their eyes. Suddenly they all turned towards me. Caddo looked at me, as if it was a miracle I had survived. He rubbed his eyes astounded. I had no intention of getting closer. He rose, and I felt fear surge through my body, and so I kep going in the direction I was headed. I didn't want to look back. I didn't know which humans I could trust anymore.

A small pond was close by in the distance. I sat down, and rested drinking the water. The moon was now hidden by the clouds. All was darkness. Not even starlight. A loud boom and thunder was overhead. Luck was not on my side. I could hardly stand it. The flashes of light zigzagged, and thunder roared at the land that was now empty. A storm great! Rain drenched me. Coldness all around now. I must have dozed off, because suddenly I heard voices. When I looked up on a hill in the distance I saw three human silouettes being illuminated by the lightning. I saw them flashing. One of them held a rope with a loop in it. Another one held a box that was weaved out of the shiny material the monster was made of. I think they were called cages. The third one that held a net on a stick. I knew one thing for sure. I was more scared of these two skinned humans than any other two skinned humans before.

They looked at me, and one spoke up. When his face was illuminated from the front I noticed him as the red haired two skin leader. The one that caused all of the disasters. The one who entered the village that fatefull day. The one that came to our home, then returned later to destroy it. The red haired devil stared surprised. "Look! A live one. Get her boys, and make sure she doesn't kill herself!"

I gasped terrified of the beast, and ran away as fast as I could. The humans leapt off of the hill, and quickly followed with their torturous instruments in tow. I tried to fly, but my wing was stabbing pain into my body every flap I administered. Their was just running. They quickly followed me, and I saw the one with the net trying to capture me in his clothed net. It swung like a predator after me. Finally I was seized in the black bag. It surrounded me, as I was picked up off the ground. It was twisted to garauntee my confinement. In an instant I saw the rope come into the bag, and tighten itself forcefully around my neck. My chirping grew faint, and finally ceased. I was freed from the net, but not the rope. The humans pinned my wings against my body, which sent pain throbbing in my wing. Al fell silent I was kept still, and my voice refrained.

The red haired one opened the cage, and I was tossed inside. My back slammed against the cold hard steel, and I was in the first cage that would lead to many more. "Uhh boss I think her wing is broken."

"Huh? Okay. Hold up there." The red haired evil man, reached into his second skin, and pulled out a liquid. He poured it on a soft piece of skin, that he called a cloth. He reached in and held it over my nose. While struggling, I smelled the cloth. it smelled incredibly sugary. It made me feel relaxed. I still kept fighting, but then I could no longer continue fighting. I felt like I could just fall asleep. I wanted to stay awake, but the rain had felt warm, and the man that had my beak was starting to blur. I felt myself calming down, and I fell asleep.


	11. Pieces of eggs

Chapter 11

I woke up a bit differently this time. This time I felt cold. Very cold. Probably the coldest I've ever felt. When I opened my eyes, I saw that at the bottom of the floor under the cage was wood. Was I in a human hut? I looked around, and I noticed I was on top of a large floor that was covered in wood. It seemed to sway underneath me. The sky had no trees covering it. I looked around, and the wood rose, and a few pieces seemed to be carved into different figures. There was a wheel, and a set of different trees, but these trees had no branches. They rose high, holding up rather strange clouds. They were white, but long and not puffy at all. They seemed smooth. Outside of it was water. Alot of water. As a matter of fact, there was so much water, that it stretched on for miles. I could not see land. Where was I? Only then was it figured out that I was on a boat. A very very big boat!

Suddenly I felt my cage be lifted. The humans had lifted me up, and I was panicking as they carried me into the large wooden boat. They went down stairs, and through places, until I was laid down on the floor next to other birds. They were in cages of all diferent shapes, and sizes. I could only guess they were caught in the same manner as I was caught. Some of them were so strange to me. They must have been birds from different part of the rainforest. They looked so different. Such magical colors. Each one stared at me as if hypnotized by my appearance. They were just as curious as I was. Some of them were huge. Others not so much. Many of them were looking down as if humiliated or miserated. So many sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers. All of them ripped away from the world they lived in. I noticed but one thing, and that was that there were not any birds that I had seen before. Could it be true that none of the birds native to my lands survived?

With anger in my heart, I clutched the bars with my good wing, and shook violently, screaming to be let out. "Let me out! Please get me out of this cage! They took my world away! LET ME OUT!" They all watched me. Not a single one spoke. They all stared blankly. They must have tried themselves. In my heart, I knew that they saw no hope for me. Still that did not stop me. My left wing was starting to be sore from the pulling, and my cage was starting to rock back and forth. Suddenly a green parrot flew over head. Flying so free. His wings were stretched far. He glided in. How did_ he _get freed? He gently perched himself on a box. With a gentle face he stared down at me. He was much older than I was. He was heavier than any parrot I had ever seen. He was also the only bird I could recognize.

With a cold, hard, and souless voice, he said, "Don't die little toucan. If you do, they'll toss you overboard. Trust me. You're more expensive than you know." I looked at him as he flew down to me. He closely inspected me. I don't know why exactly, but I didn't feel safe from being near him. "Hmm nice coloring of the beak. Reds, blues, oranges, greens. Nice flourescent yellow chest. Black jet plumage. Red tail. Nice blue feet. Sparkley eyes. Wow. The men caught a good specimen, they did."

What was he talking about? Specimen? What was I a specimen for. "I don't understand." I said. Clearly I was very confused. I wasn't going to pretend like I new what was going on. I didn't have clue of where this boat was headed or what was going to happen to us.

"Well, of course you don't understand. I never get tired of explaining the conundrum to your kind. You see. As of now you are in the wild bird trade. It's where your kind are captured all around the world. When you are caught you are sold to buyers around the world. Every year five million birds board this ship. None of them return. Each bird you see is up for big bucks. You, though, are very special. You are a keel billed toucan. Those are the most valuable ones that are caught. Not only because of how rare your type are, but also because of how popular you are." He smiled as warmly as he could, as if that would comfort me. "Don't worry, darling. Even for a toucan you are quite vibrantly colored, and in great shape. You will be sold to a high purchasing buyer in no time."

I looked at him worriedly. "Who? Who will buy me?" I asked quickly. I had to know. I had hoped that as long as they weren't anything like the red headed poacher, then it wouldn't be too hard to escape. "Tell me it won't be the one with red hair."

He shrugged his wings. "I'm not sure. Sometimes when he finds a really nice bird caught, he tends to keep them for himself. He isn't so bad. Have you noticed that the pain in your right wing is gone?" I had almost forgotten about that. When I stared down at my right wing, it was wrapped in white cloth. It was like I had a second skin myself. I didn't like it. I had opened my beak ready to tear at it. He interrupted me. "No! Don't do that. It's supposed to make your wing better. Trust me. That right wing broken makes you all the more valuable." He joked to me. " That way you can't fly away from the humans. As for who might want to buy you. It's a mystery. You might be bought by a bird mill, and used for breding purpouses, but for such a exceptional specimen as you, I think you will most likely be bought as a pet. There's no way to know for sure." He said raising his wings.

When he raised his wings they were very wide which indicated to me that he must have been a usual flyer. Then came the question that was not expected. "Well, how did _you_ get out. I noticed that you aren't trapped like us." I claimed with upsettness in my voice.

He huffed loudly. "That's because the captain of this ship wanted me. He got me for free. I was never in the bird markets. They pulled me out, and kept me as a pet for him personally. I was caught several years ago off the coast of Africa." He said quietly.

"What's Africa?" I said confused.

He waved his wing. "Never mind. Point is I was too young to remember my life back then. I was pulled straight out of the nest as a baby. Grew up right here on the boat." He claimed.

I needed to see if Nobli had somehow made it through. I knew that if anybody had a chance of making it out, he would. "Have there been any macaws? I know this scarlet macaw. He is very large, and squaky. Goes by the name Nobli."

He looked at me symapethetically. "Honey. The birds you see around you are all the birds that are on this ship. I don't know of any macaws here. If he did make it out alive of whatever you escaped, he didn't get caught." Suddenly a human came down from the stairs I came from. He walked over to me, and poured a bunch of seeds into a bowl on the side of the cage I was in. 'I sugest you get used to eating those seeds. That's all they feed us here in this boat." When he was handed a piece of bread, by the human, he squaked out a meaningless phrase. "Pieces of eggs!"

I tasted the first seed. It was awful. Quickly I ran over to the water dish, and took sips out of it. He looked at me, and looked pained to see me miserable. He spread his wings, and was about to fly out of the room. "Wait!" I shouted. He stopped in the middle of his flight. "Can you stay down here with me please? I need somebody to stay with me. Please?" I couldn't stay down here alone. It scared me too much. He looked at me, and sighed. For a moment he looked down, then back at me.

"Nobody's ever asked me to stay with them, before. They always want to be left alone." I stared at him praying that he would say yes. "Well, sure. I can stay here with you." He perched himself near a small piece of wood. He smiled to me, and as bad as things were, I couldn't but smile back at him. "So what's your name, little toucan?"

Never had anybody called me something other than Kikiana. My mother, my husband, the toucan kingdom always called me Kikiana. Only my brothers called me by my short name. "My name is Princess Kikiana, but you can call me Kiki."


End file.
